Cholecystokinin receptor expression and signaling remains constant across time of day in rat vagal afferent neurons.

Circadian rhythms are endogenous biological clocks that regulate physiology and behaviors, such as food intake, and are synchronized by the environmental light/dark cycle. The nucleus of the solitary tract (NTS) receives excitatory glutamatergic inputs from vagal afferent neurons that innervate the gastrointestinal tract and are sensitive to the gut peptide cholecystokinin (CCK), which is released following food intake to promote satiation. Previously, we observed that NTS membrane properties, neurotransmission, and action potential firing were all under circadian control. While it is well established that the food intake varies with the light/dark cycle, circadian variations in the cellular actions of CCK on vagal afferent neurons remain unknown. Here we test the extent to which CCK signaling on vagal afferents and the NTS changes as a function of time of day. We used RT-qPCR and functional cellular measurements to measure gene expression and responses to CCK across the time of day in rats. While we confirmed the presence of rhythmic clock gene expression in vagal afferent neurons, we found that CCK1 receptors did not show diurnal rhythmicity. We also observed that CCK-induced calcium responses were consistent during the day and night in dissociated vagal afferent neurons. Similarly, CCK driven increases in spontaneous glutamate release were also constant across the light cycle at the vagal afferent–NTS synapse. We conclude that vagal afferent CCK signaling remains constant across the light cycle and CCK1 receptors provide a consistent point of reference independent of the time of day.